Edmonton Oilers coach Dallas Eakins says he emphatically told winger Nail Yakupov in a heart-to-heart on the ice in Tampa Wednesday afternoon that he shouldn’t believe for a millisecond the trade rumours that started in New York and found their way into this blog in the wake of team president Kevin Lowe and new team adviser Mark Messier watching the Rangers play Monday night.

Eakins wouldn’t say if Yakupov, who didn’t play after the midway point of the third period in Florida Tuesday night for defensive purposes, would be out against the Lightning Thursday. Winger Linus Omark has been recalled from Oklahoma City. Yakupov was doing drills with the injured guys Taylor Hall and Jesse Joensuu and Omark, in their yellow (not ready to play) jerseys, at the end of practice. Yakupov was on a line with Sam Gagner and Ryan Smyth in practice, but Omark could draw in. It’s no better than 50-50 though.

Eakins wasn’t chastising Yakupov for anything in their on-ice conversation. “I wanted him to know that all of these reports in the media, the people making up trades about him are absolutely, 100 percent untrue,” said Eakins. “This is not going anywhere. Guys like Joe Thornton (Boston) and the kid here Stamkos…those guys struggled early in their careers, but, boy they turned out to be pretty good players,” said Eakins.

“Nail Yakupov is not being shopped, he’s not going anywhere and I wanted him to hear that from me, to look in my eyes, and let him know we’re attached at the hip. We’re going to make him a better player and it’s OK to struggle. I let him know about Thornton and Stamkos. It’s part of the process. He’s 20 years old. We’re not suddenly giving up on a guy because he’s going through a rough stretch and the people writing their columns and their blogs can create their excitement that way,” said Eakins. “What’s out there is 100 percent untrue.”

It was originally tossed out that the Rangers could be interested in Ales Hemsky as a top six forward because they can’t score but Yakupov’s name came into things because he’s much younger and Rangers’ GM Glen Sather loves high-end skill guys. All we know is Craig MacTavish, Kevin Lowe and Mark Messier once again were at Madison Square Garden Wednesday to see the Rangers, this time against Pittsburgh. Now Lowe may still be scouting Marc Staal, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury for the Canadian Olympic squad.But MacTavish and his advisor Messier?

But, again, Yakupov, while struggling, is on an education program here. He’s minus 13 in the 14 games he’s played and he has three points, a goal and an assist, which has frustrated him, for sure. But, the Oilers feel school’s in for Yakupov.

“I think it’s dangerous to look at numbers sometimes because it sometimes puts a player in a fragile state. The numbers are what they are and as a player you have to prepare for the next game to get better,” said Eakins. “There’s a ton of encouraging signs with Nail. Eventually he’ll score but first we need responsible defensive play, and that’s everybody in our group.”

It worked in Florida as they limited the Panthers to eight scoring chances. Albeit it, the Panthers are a long way from the Pittsburgh Penguins as an NHL juggernaut, but the Oilers did do a nice job. With the Oilers holding a 3-1 lead in the third period, however, Yakupov sat. He didn’t play in the overtime period, not on a powerplay 4-on-3. Eakins says that was circumstance more than tough love.

“I didn’t play him after the 8 1/2 minute mark because I thought we had enough forwards who were playing really well defensively. It wasn’t protecting the team it was protecting the kid,” said Eakins. “I thought he’d done enough well defensively and tried hard enough that I didn’t want anything crazy to happen for him to put a negative spin on it.”

“I know sitting seems to be a negative spin but it wasn’t. I was happy with his game and I wanted it to end there.”

“We got into the4-on-4 (to start overtime) and I’m thinking ‘Ok, I’ll probably use him but geez, he’s sat on the bench for awhile, is he going to be alright?’ On the the 4-on-3 powerplay we had the right guys out there (to start), then it ended (second unit with mark Arcobello scoring),” said Eakins.

“I see Nail trying so hard to be better defensively and to learn this defensive system we’re trying to implement. I thought he made a couple of good plays defensively yesterday (Tuesday). I saw the thought process go through his head while he was on the ice which was encouraging to me,” said Eakins.

Eakins might still sit him to get Omark a look, however. Would they call up Omark just to sit with Hall maybe coming back in Philadelphia Saturday?

“Any player who’s here and healthy is a possibility to play and he may,” said Eakins, who also talked to Omark on the ice.

“With Omark it’s important that he immediately understand what we’re trying to do here…we’re trying to restructure our identity into a team that’s tough to get scoring chances against. We’re not using our skill to advantage and that means being a team where if we lose the puck, we get it back quickly (like Detroit with Datsyuk and Zetterberg),” said Eakins.

Defence has never been Omark’s calling card, nor is it the Russian’s, but Omark, who was leading OKC in points and taking his time in the AHL much better than in his other times there before he hiked off to Switzerland and led the league in scoring during the NHL lockout, will do anything to make an impression here.

“For Linus he has to be defensively responsible immediately and that will help his offensive game.”

Omark has seen farmhands Tyler Pitlick and Ryan Hamilton play ahead of him, but he joined the team for game two of the four game road trip. He’s bided his time, with no complaints.

“I was better prepared to go to OKC. I knew I had to play good and hope the chance would come. I hope I get a game here,” he said.

Omark was non-committal on whether he’d play. “We’ll see. You’ll have to ask the coach. There was a little bag skate there (at the end of practice),” he said.

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the “X” in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.